Written by the Nex AV team — certified Control4 & Lutron installers designing smart homes and AV systems across NYC. About us.
Most people shop for home automation devices by the dozen and end up with a drawer full of half-connected gadgets. You don’t need 40 of them. The first ten cover most of what homeowners use every day, and the starter layer runs about $600 to $1,500 in hardware, not the $15,000 to $40,000 a fully designed system costs. The order you buy them in matters more than the brand on the box.
The Short Version
- Start with lighting and power. A smart dimmer, a few smart plugs, and a bridge do more for daily life than any single flashy gadget.
- Add a smart lock and a video doorbell next, then a couple of sensors so the apartment can tell you when something’s wrong.
- Save the thermostat, one motorized shade, and voice control for last, once the basics are stable.
- The network is the quiet foundation. If your Wi-Fi already drops, fix that before you add a thing.
Why Order Beats a Shopping Spree
Here’s the pattern we see on callbacks: someone buys a bin of smart home devices in one weekend, connects half of them, and gives up when the app won’t hold a connection. The gear wasn’t the problem. The sequence was. If you want the wider picture on how the pieces fit together, our overview of smart home automation walks through the full stack; this piece is the shortlist and the order.
Good automation is boring in the best way. The lights come up when you want them, the door locks itself, and you stop thinking about any of it. Done right, these devices stop being separate gadgets and start running scenes that save time. Buy in the wrong order, though, and you get a house full of devices that each need their own app and none of which talk to each other.
The Foundation: Lighting and Power
Lighting is where nearly every good system starts, because it’s the thing you touch a hundred times a day.
1. A smart dimmer or switch. In most NYC apartments this means a Lutron Caseta dimmer plus the Caseta bridge, or a keypad if you’re going further. Caseta doesn’t need a neutral wire, which matters because a pattern we see in almost every prewar apartment is a shallow gang box with no neutral behind the plaster. Hardware runs $60 to $90 a switch plus an $80 bridge; installed in NYC, budget $150 to $250 per location once labor and the odd box swap are in.
2. Smart plugs. The cheapest real win in the whole list. Drop one behind a lamp or a coffee maker and it joins your scenes without any wiring, $20 to $40 each. If you rent, or your co-op won’t let you touch the walls yet, plugs and bulbs are how you start.
3. Smart bulbs, but only where you can’t reach the switch. Bulbs are the fallback, not the default. Switches are more reliable and don’t get defeated when someone flips the wall control. Reach for bulbs in a fixture you can’t rewire, $15 to $50 each. If you’re torn between the two, this quick read on switch versus bulb settles most of it.
Lock Up and Add Early Warnings
Once light and power are handled, make the apartment aware of itself.
4. A smart lock. Keyless entry you can grant to a dog walker or a guest and revoke the same day. Device cost $150 to $350. In co-ops, check whether your door is a fire-rated unit before you swap the hardware, since some boards are strict about it.
5. A video doorbell or intercom. This is where NYC gets its own rules. A standalone video doorbell is easy in a townhouse; in an apartment you’re often tied to the building’s intercom, and integrating with it can mean a board conversation. When it works, you see the delivery without buzzing anyone up.
6. Contact and motion sensors. Cheap, quiet, and genuinely useful. A contact sensor on the front door and a motion sensor in the hall let the system turn lights on, arm an “away” mode, and flag a door left open, $20 to $50 each. This is the point where automation and security start overlapping, and this guide on how to pair it with security covers that ground.
7. A leak sensor. The most boring device here and the one that saves you thousands. Tuck one under the sink and one behind the washer. A supply-line drip caught in seconds instead of hours is the difference between a mop and a claim from the neighbor downstairs, $20 to $60 each.
Add Climate, Shades, and Voice Last
These three make a system feel finished. They’re also the ones people wrongly buy first.
8. A smart thermostat. Worth it if you have central air or a forced-air setup, $130 to $250. Honest caveat: a lot of prewar NYC apartments run on steam radiators with no thermostat to replace, so this device simply doesn’t apply to some homes. Don’t buy one until you’ve confirmed what your heat actually is.
9. One motorized shade. Start with a single window, usually the bright one that cooks the living room in the afternoon. Installed shades run $350 to $1,200 and up per window depending on size and fabric. If your building regulates what shows on the facade, or you’re weighing fabrics and openness factors, our motorized shades in Manhattan work covers the approval and fabric side.
10. Voice control. Alexa or Google is $30 to $150 and fine for basic commands. If you care about privacy and want voice that isn’t listening for ad data, Josh.ai voice control is the pro-installed route, though it’s a bigger commitment per room. Voice goes in last, not first, because it’s only as good as the devices underneath it.
Which Home Automation Devices Go In First?
Sequence is the whole game. Here’s the order we install home automation devices in, and why.
- Network first, always. If the Wi-Fi is shaky, nothing above it works.
- Lighting and plugs. The daily-use layer.
- Locks and doorbell. Entry and awareness.
- Sensors. Contact, motion, leak.
- Thermostat and shades. Comfort.
- Voice. The layer that ties it together.
The reason to care about order is interoperability. Buy devices that speak Matter and Thread where you can, so they’ll still work together as brands come and go. The Connectivity Standards Alliance, the group behind Matter, keeps a running list of certified products worth checking before you buy, and this rundown on getting devices to talk helps you dodge the mismatches.
Once the first devices are in, they stop being gadgets and start being scenes. Here’s what that looks like day to day.
| Scene | Trigger | What happens | The payoff |
|---|---|---|---|
| Morning | 7:00 am, weekday | Bedroom dimmers rise to 40%, shade lifts, heat bumps up | You wake to light, not just an alarm |
| Leaving | Front door locks | Lights off, thermostat to eco, sensors armed | No walking back to check the lamp |
| Delivery | Doorbell press | Video alert to your phone, one-tap reply | You see the package without buzzing up |
| Movie | “Movie” spoken | Lights to 10%, shade down, TV and receiver on | One phrase instead of four remotes |
| Leak | Water at the sink base | Alert within seconds | You catch a drip before the ceiling below does |
| Bedtime | 11:00 pm | Common lights off, doors confirmed locked | No half-asleep security lap |
If your Wi-Fi already drops a few times a week, start there before anything else. The Nex AV network team can pressure-test your setup so the devices you add actually hold a connection.
Home Automation Devices Households Switch Off
Some gear sounds great in the store and gets muted within a week. Worth knowing before you spend.
Motion-triggered lights in bedrooms and hallways top the list. They fire at 3 am when someone gets up, and the household disables them fast. Aggressive “auto-away” routines are next: lock the door, drop the heat, kill the lights, then annoy the person who’s still home on the couch. Chatty notifications go the same way. If every door open and every motion event pings your phone, you stop reading any of them.
The fix isn’t fewer devices, it’s restraint in how they’re programmed. On NYC jobs the building’s service elevator window usually decides the schedule, not the gear, and the same patience pays off in programming: a scene tuned over two weeks beats a dozen triggers set up in an afternoon.
The Cheaper Option That Actually Works
You do not need a $30,000 system to get most of this. A Lutron Caseta starter kit, a handful of smart plugs, a lock, a doorbell, and two sensors will land you around $600 to $1,500 in devices and cover the daily wins that people actually notice. For a lot of one-bedrooms, that’s the whole project.
Where does the bigger spend earn its keep? When you outgrow apps and want one interface for everything, or you’re running motorized shades across a dozen windows and want them choreographed. That’s the moment a Control4 system is genuinely worth it. Below that scale, Caseta and a good hub are plenty, and after enough retrofits you learn the plaster and lath is the real cost driver, not the keypads. If you’re still weighing whether to hire out at all, this honest look at DIY versus pro install lays out where each makes sense.
Getting This Right the First Time
Pick your first ten home automation devices in the order above, buy Matter-and-Thread gear where you can, and get the network solid before anything else. Start small, live with it for a couple of weeks, then add the next layer.
If you’d rather not guess, we’ll run a site survey, map your building’s constraints, and hand you a written plan for the exact home automation devices that fit your apartment and your co-op’s rules. Book a walkthrough and we’ll scope it with you before you spend a dollar on hardware.
Questions We Get Asked Most
What are the best home automation devices to start with?
A smart dimmer, a few smart plugs, a smart lock, and a video doorbell. Those four cover lighting, control, and entry, which is most of what people use daily. Add sensors and a thermostat once that layer is stable.
How much do the first home automation devices cost in NYC?
A practical starter layer runs about $600 to $1,500 in hardware for a one-bedroom. Installed pricing depends on your walls, since prewar plaster, shallow gang boxes, and co-op rules all push labor up. A full designed system is a different budget, often $15,000 and up; this cost breakdown has the ranges.
Do smart home devices need special wiring?
Usually not. Lutron Caseta and most modern smart home devices are wireless and don’t need a neutral wire, which is why they work in older buildings. Motorized shades and hardwired keypads are the exceptions that may need a wire pulled.
Will these devices work together?
They will if you buy for it. Stick to gear that supports Matter and Thread, or a single ecosystem, so the devices talk instead of each needing its own app. Mixing random brands without a plan is the usual reason things don’t cooperate.
Can I install home automation devices myself?
Plugs, bulbs, and battery sensors, yes. Switches involve line voltage, and shades and intercom integration in a co-op are jobs for a pro. If line voltage or a board approval is involved, hire it out.
What should I install before any devices?
The network. A weak or overloaded Wi-Fi setup will make even good devices feel broken, and no new hub fixes a bad connection. Sort the Wi-Fi, then start adding devices.
For a shortlist built around your exact apartment and building, a walkthrough is the fastest way there.
About Nex AV
Nex AV is a New York City smart-home and audio-visual integration company based at 575 8th Ave in Manhattan. We design, install, and support Control4, Lutron lighting and shades, home theater, whole-home audio, networking, and commercial AV for homes and businesses across Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens, including the co-op boards, prewar wiring, and building rules that NYC projects always involve. Call +1 646-503-0246 or book a free consultation.